What We Do: Responding to Emergencies

In the wake of emergencies such as wars, hurricanes, famines, floods, or earthquakes thousands are forced out of their homes and left destitute. Often, they lack basic necessities like food, water, and shelter.

ADRA works to prevent further lose of life by responding quickly to evaluate the greatest needs, and then developing plans to get help to the areas where it is needed most. Often, ADRA coordinates with local governments to provide medical care, food, water, and shelter to victims of tragedies.

In Case of Emergency...ADRA Quickly Responds

Even with preparation, a disaster is always a shock for survivors. Nothing can prepare someone for the loss and hopelessness that follow. Each year, millions of people find themselves surviving disaster and great loss. They struggle to rebuild their lives, homes, and communities.

ADRA can't predict when the next disaster will happen, however, we can provide help quickly to those who have been affected by one. That's something we do often and well.

A Desperate Need

ADRA is continually responding to natural and man-made emergencies that leave families homeless and without the means of earning an income. These situations seldom make the TV news or U.S. newspapers, yet with your support, ADRA is there. From renewed violence in the most remote regions, to catastrophic floods, earthquake, famine, and disease. ADRA responds.

Bring Healing to Survivors

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is mourning the loss of more than 200,000 individuals after a devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010. More than 1 million are homeless, many of them children.

ADRA Delivers Increased Aid in Southern Myanmar

Assistance Expands in Tsunami-Hit Solomon Islands

ADRA is continuing its assistance to the tsunami-affected Solomon Islands with a rehabilitation project to help 440 households on Choiseul Island rebuild their homes. The 14-week project began the first week of May and will benefit approximately 2,640 tsunami survivors.

ADRA eases the journey home for thousands in Sudan

After more than 20 years of civil war, the government of Sudan in Khartoum and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement in the south signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005. The peace agreement gave the 36 million Sudanese people a great deal of hope that the more than four million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 358,000 refugees1 who have moved away from their homes because of the unrest and violence.

In January 2013, western parts of Java experienced days of heavy rain, causing widespread and numerous flooding in Jakarta and West Java towns reaching peak disturbance. In Jakarta, about 20,000 displaced persons were crowding evacuation centers, mosques, and public buildings. Several deaths from electrocution, drowning and susceptible old age have been reported. Lack of clean water and toilet facilities, food, and blankets are prime needs for people, mainly women and children.

CHOKWE, GAZA, MOZAMBIQUE - Flooding Emergency Response

In January 2013, an institutional red alert was declared in Chokwe and Guija districts in Gaza Province of Mozambique due to severe flooding. To date, deaths have been reported as well as approximately 30,000 people had to be evacuated. Chokwe is situated about 300 km from the capital, Maputo. The flooding was caused by high water outflow from South Africa and Zimbabwe rivers, Inkomati and Limpopo. Since these rivers pass through the low laying area in the Gaza Province, flooding happens easily and quickly. Overall, almost 50,000 people have been affected, more than 15,000 have been displaced, and almost 3,000 houses were destroyed.

LAHORE, PUNJAB PROVINCE, PAKISTAN - Flood Emergency Response

In August and September of last year, Pakistan encountered destructive flash floods, which were triggered by heavy rains. The heavy rains broke a 24-year rainfall record and leaving over 100 people dead in Punjab province and Sindh province. Flash flooding destroyed thousands of houses, rendering a large number of families homeless. All mud houses were swept away by the floods. The hill torrents wiped out the infrastructure and economy of 338 revenue villages and reports indicate that more than 3,000 livestock perished, about 50,000 households damaged, 18 casualties reported, and more than 700,000 persons are displaced. Displaced people were temporarily taken to higher ground areas and public buildings for shelter.

Mali Armed Conflict Political Crisis in Segou

Since 2011, Northern Mali has become a hot spot of intense armed conflict between rebel groups such as the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Al Dine, the Movement for Unity Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) and the government of the Republic of Mali. The government has lost control over the northeast centers such as Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu, where the rebels have established their government under the Sharia (Islamic law) since April 2012. The conflict has affected a large civilian population, estimated to be around 1.7 million, limiting their access to basic social services, and causing the displacement over 350,000 people of which about 200,00 are internally displaced in other parts of Mali such as Segou and about 150,00 are refugees in neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger, and a few others. This displacement and livelihood challenges have exacerbated an already unwarranted condition of host communities, which has been severely weakened by the food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel.

Hamid and the Mitsubishi

A sea of little faces looked up at me offering a "Kodak moment." One little shy face of a small boy dressed in his long white jalabia, now no longer sparking white, attracted my attention. I went down on my haunches in front of him and in my broken Arabic, asked his name and whether I could take his photo. His name was Hamid and the coy smile was consent for me to photograph him.

I noticed that he had his little toy truck with him. At first gaze it looked like a pile of scrap metal. When I focused my camera on it, I noticed more detail. It was made from empty tomato cans rescued from a garbage dump somewhere. I could make out the front windscreen. Then I focused on the wheels. They were blue in color and were obviously cut from an old pair of rubber thongs, sometimes called "slip-slops" or "flip-flops." The wheels were far from round and I wondered how he could even get them to roll. I gave Hamid a smile and asked him whether his truck was a Mercedes Benz or a Mitsubishi. His immediate answer was, "Mitsubishi."

Hope Rising

“I haven’t had any time to cry,” the young teen confided. “Until now. Today, I will cry.”

For many Haitians caught in the trauma of the 7.0 earthquake, which struck on January 12, it has taken weeks for the flood of emotions to really come out. Overnight, Haiti became a nation described as a place, “where everyone has lost someone.” With overwhelming destruction all around them, and the weighty loss of homes, jobs, family and friends within them, it seems that only their determination and a drive for survival kept them going. February 12, the one-month anniversary of the earthquake, was Haiti's National Day of Mourning, a day fashioned by the Haitian government as an opportunity for the nation to grieve and begin to heal.

Ice Cream Kisses

It was the last place I expected to hear a child calling my name; but as I turned I saw my nine-year-old friend, Mala, running up the dirt path behind me. I was trekking through the middle of an internally displaced persons camp in Carrefour, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Each night, it became home to nearly 15,000 people, including Mala. I had met her a couple days earlier when she was getting water, but was still surprised she recognized me and remembered my name. Her mother had sent her on an errand to buy supplies from a small shop. But like most activities involving kids, it had been interrupted to...well... go potty. It was this diversion that caused our paths to intersect.

Kdhiswari’s Escape

She escaped death several times during the past two years. She had to flee her country and beloved parents in the middle of a civil war. She abandoned all her belongings, leaving them in the hands of those who bombed her village. She now lives in a shelter with less than the minimum provisions necessary to live decently. She has a sweet and tender smile and considers herself lucky. She is a refugee.

ADRA Bridges Save Nearly 900 Lives During Cyclone Nargis

As the high winds of Cyclone Nargis battered southern Myanmar’s delta region in May 2008, and high tidal waves and floodwaters covered low-lying areas, hundreds of people flocked to at least 22 ADRA bridges that had been constructed months before to link isolated communities in the Pyinsalu Sub-Township, a patchwork of rivers and islands on the extreme southern edge of Labutta Township.Nearly 900 people were saved from tidal waves and flooding in the Pyinsalu islands, located on the southern coast of the Irrawaddy Delta, by standing on bridges built by ADRA. One structure alone, the Lay Yin Kwin Bridge, which measures 140 feet in length, held 145 people for several hours, while the storm waters rose and then receded.